DEFENDING DEMOCRACY IN EXILE Policy Responses to Transnational Repression Recommendations for the Thai government: 8 • Document transnational repression as a distinct problem by collecting data on human rights violations conducted by foreign states within Thailand. • Train law enforcement and immigration officials to recognize and respond to potential transnational repression, including respecting UNHCR refugee designations. • Ensure that the National Screening Mechanism (NSM) incorporates a definition of “protected persons” that reflects international refugee law standards and best practices for refugee management. • Review existing information-sharing channels established to combat organized crime and terrorism and vet Interpol notices to ensure that foreign states do not have undue influence on how asylees are screened or how security designations are applied. @FreedomHouse • Streamline refugee resettlement programs and consider instituting a permanent residency path for refugees, as having large numbers of asylum seekers wait for years for resettlement to a safe third country enables targeting by authoritarian states. • Accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol to set in play domestic mechanisms that adhere more closely to international standards. • Use regular channels of bilateral legal cooperation to seek the return of people accused of criminal acts from abroad instead of relying on opaque extrajudicial tactics to repatriate political opponents. • Adopt a clearer definition of what constitutes a political crime that protects the exercise of freedom of speech. • Decrease the role of Thai security agencies in the migration process in order to focus migration reform on prioritizing protection for vulnerable people. #TransnationalRepression